City sources said a marathon meeting of the Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges ended late Monday with agreement to meet again next week to finalize wording of a letter explaining the panel’s doubts about granting Pearson a 10-year term on the bench. Pearson’s initial term expired at the end of April, at the height of his legal battle against the Chung family, owners of Custom Cleaners on Bladensburg Road NE.

The panel’s discussion about Pearson’s future has focused on what role a judge’s behavior outside the courtroom should play in assessing his qualifications. Was Pearson’s extraordinary zeal in pursuing the case against the Chungs so embarrassing that it amounts to evidence of poor judicial temperament?

The post points out that with Pearson out of a job, the Chungs might have difficulty recovering money for legal fees they’ve been awarded by the court.

On one side, good news that a judge that looks inept is getting the boot. On the bad side, the Chungs may not be able to recover their legal fees if he is out of a job…. I guess he never saves and that’s why he prompted such an expesive lawsuit (60,000,000)?

Of course it was lowered to 54m, but is that why he wanted to sue? Since he’s a broke ass himself?

There’re credible reasons for this. He’s made a laughingstock of the legal field and the US system. PLUS, there’s no way in Hell that any rational person would suggest that his judgement is trustworthy.

There’s no way he should hold a government position where he exercises legal decisions.

(I guess this means he’s on the shortlist for Bush to nominate him, either for US Justice Department or (go, George GO!) the Supreme Court)

If you read the coverage of this trial it becomes pretty clear that this guy is probably mentally imbalanced. It sounds like his divorce snapped something in him (his first vindictive lawsuit was against his ex-wife) and now he’s developed a mania for these cases. The guy broke down crying on the stand twice and rambled on semi-incoherently about his fucking pants.

I think the general idea behind $54million is you usually only get about 10%, so I’d bet he was really wanting $5mil, so to get it, has to sue for $50mil. Its good to see him losing his job, I certainlly would not want him ruling on any case I’m involved in with those ethics. However, I foresee a $100mil lawsuit against whoever fires him, after he loses his job.

I remember reading about his crying thing. I just thought that was purely an act to make his case more credible. I thought it was similar to the guy that got punched once and passed out, then shows up to court wearing a neck brace and casts on all his limbs and riding in a wheelchair.

I didn’t think he was batshit crazy. I just think you’d have to have some intelligence to pull off an act, but you’d have to be stupid to expect it to work on the normal court peers.

The news around town while the case was going on was that it was iffy about Pearson getting a renewal term — even before the ridiculous lawsuit. The lawsuit may have only helped put the nail in his coffin.

This guy is a prime example of why people don’t take the United States seriously anymore. What a loser. I hope he has a long career ahead of him which requires him to ask “do you want fries with that?”.

No, he should never be allowed to work for the legal system again. Problem paying his debt? I’m sure he’ll be getting plenty of income from writing a book about it or something, and if not, get to work at McDonald’s. Aside from that, I’d say that he has forfeit his right to Social Security / 401k for this frivolous lawsuit and that it should be drained to compensate the defendants.

I think it would have been a travesty if he didn’t lose his job. I also think he should spend the remainder of his life paying down the enormous debt he owes the Chungs (more than just legal fees) for the ridiculous situation they had to go through because of his idiocy/insanity and if he’s ever done paying that off he can start on the debt he owes the taxpayers who funded the court that had to deal with his idiocy/insanity.

I wouldn’t say this behavior reflects his personal life as it occurred in the field in which he was employed. He made an ass out of himself in public – let him pick up cans until he pays back the laundromat.

Before I’d start handing this guy the want ads, check his political background. If he’s the kind of judge “W” wants, he may be perfectly safe. If you think our legal system does a good job of ejecting members of the bar who demonstrate poor and/or embarrassing judgment, I invite you to look at the Attorney General.

It was pretty clear from the outset that there was no chance he was getting reappointed after all this, but the Commission couldn’t just spin around and say he had acted outside the realm of acceptable behavior for a judge. They had to make their decision seemed reasoned or else it never would have held up under appeal.

The ability to right wrongs via the courts is something the legal world hates to impinge, and with good reason. It would be biting the hand that feeds you. So sanctioning an attorney for bringing a frivolous suit is rare, and everyone would generally prefer it if the frivolous attorney was forced to pay attorneys fees rather than being suspended or disbarred. See also: Jack Thompson.

Granted though: this guy IS a judge, he’s being held to a higher standard, and had he just been an attorney he would not have been disbarred for this behavior alone.

Frankly I would kind of prefer it if they DIDN’T fire him. Once he’s unemployed, he’s just going to start filing batshit suits like this for a living. It’ll take at least 5 years for him to do enough bad that the Bar will finally do something.

People like Pearson (i.e., with no sense of perspective, exaggerated view of self, lacking of proper meds, all combined with a law degree…), enjoy this chit. He will fight this impending job dismissal ad nauseum.

My money says he will get a lump sum “package” in favor of him going away. Anyone know if that’s possible in situations like this?

Obviously this bottom feeder can’t make good judgments. He should loose his job and his license. At the rates he probably charged clients I’ll bet he has plenty of money squirreled away. The sad part is that a-holes like this always seem to land on their feet.

“…with Pearson out of a job, the Chungs might have difficulty recovering money for legal fees they’ve been awarded by the court.”

I hope they don’t base their decision on that.
Fancy Pants is a lawyer, isn’t he? He won’t have any trouble getting another well paying job.
We may never seem him in another court room (good decision, if that’s what they decide) but there’s plenty of work for lawyers outside of court that pays well.

Can’t an attorney for the defendants ask that he not be allowed to continue with his lawsuit? Can’t Pearson be enjoined from filling frivolous lawsuits? Can’t the next judge he goes before with this dismiss it because it’s silly?

For consumerists you guys are awefully lame. If this guy wasn’t a judge he would have been just another disgruntled angry ex customer of the Chungs. When I first heard about this I thought, what did the dry cleaners do to get on his bad side.

The judge is pretty far gone but I surely wouldn’t be cheerleading for the the Chungs in this one. I think both sides got what they had coming to them. The judge got bad press and so did the Chungs. Question, who among you would take your nicest suit or coat to them after this boils over? A good job is a good job and the customer is always right, period. (Except when the customer is clearly wrong).

@kmtra: Umm Judges are in positions of power where the judge the actions of other people. I dont want someone stupid enough to sue a cleaners for a million dollars let alone 60 to be judging anything. This suit clearly shows that he is not competent to judge over others.

@kmtra: You also have to account for the sheer ridiculousness of the dollar figure. If he was just someone that submitted the story and asked for advice, he’d probably be told to take it to small claims court, not sue and ask for the GDP of Lichtenstein.

Before I’d start handing this guy the want ads, check his political background. If he’s the kind of judge “W” wants, he may be perfectly safe. If you think our legal system does a good job of ejecting members of the bar who demonstrate poor and/or embarrassing judgment, I invite you to look at the Attorney General.

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Wow. Some people are really getting desperate for ways to talk about Bush.

@Trick: How can you cut on W any way that hasn’t already been done (and done correctly, I might add). You and the other 21% need to turn your computer off and go back to watching wrestling (or faux news).

@kmtra: Please take a moment to read the judgement here [online.wsj.com] because it gives good insight to both sides of the matter

Even taking a leap to assume that the Chungs are careless (I don’t believe they are), they are in fact honest folks with limited means that gave this jackass of an admin judge a settlement which he accepted.

@kmtra, that better be some sacrcasm, because if you read what really happened, you would not even show a shred of support for that douchebag judge Pearson. the chungs not only found his pants, which he denies that are his even though the tag matches his receipt, they even offered the judge $1200 cash so he could buy new pants.

@Trick: How can you cut on W any way that hasn’t already been done (and done correctly, I might add). You and the other 21% need to turn your computer off and go back to watching wrestling (or faux news).

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You are welcome, Doc. No need to thank me for your opportunity to obsess over Bush. You knew if I didn’t give you reason to rant over the buffoon you would have found your own reason.

Now be a good little obsessive twit and find yet another reason to blabber on about Bush to make yourself feel _______________. You fill in the blank.

Or you could just wait five minutes for a new thread about mold and rant on about how the bozo in the white house is behind it. That will stop the nervous shaking and tide you over until you get your next fix.

@Trick: Touche, you sir, have once again outdone (outdid?) me!
Could you please have the faux news police come over to visit me…I must be purged. I have spoken out about our fine leader and I must be cleansed…
Now if you would be so kind as to point me towards that aformentioned thread on mold :)

@kmtra: Its time to pick a team!I am on the Chung’s side because sometimes in life, sh!$ happens. They lost his pants or whatever, they owe for that, and maybe a little more for inconvenience, but that wouldn’t make me not go there. If we avoided every business b/c of one publicized mistake, we would have no businesses. And if a business had to pay $54 mil for every mistake, again we’d have none. How many times has mcdonalds screwed up your order? Even when they preached the’d always get it right? Geez, I could be a billionaire!

Isn’nt there some sort of racism going on here??A asian dry cleaner beats back a african american who may lose his job because of it??This can’t be right??Where is Al Sharpton or Jesse jackson??Should’nt they be down suppoerting his appeal?